The hard-rocking, hard-touring Celtic-punk band Flogging Molly spends hundreds of days each year
on the road.

But members of the still-active Los Angeles group scattered a few years ago — with musicians now
residing in Denver, Detroit and San Diego.

Drummer George Schwindt, however, went home.

The 1981 graduate of Westland High School lives in the Clintonville neighborhood with his wife
and son between myriad Flogging Molly shows, which will include a stop tonight in the Lifestyle
Communities Pavilion.

Relocating “wasn’t an easy decision,” said Schwindt, a 14-year Californian who returned to be
close to family members and to enjoy a lower cost of living.

Distance hasn’t derailed the rollicking ensemble, which last year released its fifth studio
album,
Speed of Darkness, to positive reviews from
Rolling Stone,
Alternative Press and the
Los Angeles Times.

New lyrical content delves into the fallout of the financial crisis, with stark commentary on a
struggling middle class and corporate greed.
Don’t Shut ’Em Down, for one, takes aim at the necessity of Main Street and domestic
manufacturing.

The ensemble was spawned from weekly Monday gigs fronted by Irish-born singer-guitarist Dave
King at a bar called Molly Malone’s (King has joked that the band’s name arose because they were “
flogging” their routine to death).

From locals to label reps in the crowd, “You could see anyone there,” Schwindt recalled. “I was
attracted to the music.”

After moving to the West Coast with his R.E.M.-influenced Columbus rock band, which dissolved a
year after his arrival, the Molly Malone’s regular was bartending in Santa Monica, Calif. A patron
there told him that King was seeking a percussionist for his band.

Schwindt, who has a music degree from Ohio State University — and, with a laugh, notes that he
has no Irish blood whatsoever — auditioned in 1995 and landed the job.

“We were never really waving the Irish flag or anything,” Schwindt said. “It’s traditional music
mixed with rock and whatever else anyone was bringing to the table.”

The blend has served the band well, with its last three albums landing in the top 20 of the
Billboard 200 charts — and the hybrid genre attracting diverse performance opportunities
from the Vans Warped Tour to the Dublin Irish Festival.

The sound on the latest release finds the six men and a woman exploring gentler, more midtempo
melodies. Mellowing, too, is the extensive touring and intense performance style of the past as the
players age.

“The most time we spend out now is four weeks,” said Schwindt, who, with his colleagues, this
year gave the band’s first performances in Brazil and Russia — and would give his age only as “old
enough.”

“I kind of have to pace myself. A show’s going to go two hours long, so it’s more like a slow
burn instead of a sprint.”

The band recently opted to sever long-term ties with the Los Angeles punk label SideOneDummy
Records in favor of launching its own label, Borstal Beat — a move that Schwindt said has been a
benefit, as acts fight for minuscule income from the digital downloads and streaming services that
make up a growing chunk of music sales.

“The only person giving us a better deal was us,” said Schwindt, whose band employs a full-time
label boss and a publicist, plus a manager (Schwindt’s brother, Gary).

Despite time and change, meanwhile, early elements that first cemented his attraction remain
constant.

“Getting people together now is a lot of work,” Schwindt said. “But we generally get in a room
and start messing around — and it’s cliche — sometimes an idea comes together quickly.”